Festage Review

With my plans to retire early quashed by an attack of low blood sugar... I guess it is time to blog!  Anyways, tonight I had a quite wonderful evening.  I joined the Cleveland Civil War Round Table, which meets every month in Independence for dinner and a lecture.  While I ordered my space too late for dinner, I snarfed salad and dessert, and sat with a bunch of fellow Civil War buffs (I am on the younger side of this group, which is not a bad thing at my age).  The speech was a bit -- not the battles analysis or high politics I prefer, but not uninteresting.  And, one of my Conference Presidents is a member -- he was surprised as I was -- and we talked shop.  Bit late but I will indeed return!

Anyways, I hit three ethnic fests this weekend, so I owe you reviews.  Saturday I lunched at the St. Sava Serbian fest in Broadview Heights; as it was a mile from my house, I walked -- the temperature was fine, and with the grub I would be putting away, steps are not unwelcome (I have regained my cyclospora-related losses, sigh).  They use those silly tickets -- sigh! -- so I bought $25 of tickets, and got myself some chicken paprikash and a sausage platter.  The chicken was perfect; the dumplings less so -- they were homemade, but the large ones were... not quite cooked through.  There was ample gravy, so I plowed through, but it was the difference between B+ and A.  The church is interesting -- LOTS of icons and artwork, and while I recognized some, some I did not.  The docents spoke Serbian first so my queries were a bit limited.  I have to admit, we have a guide to all the art -- the statues, the windows, the frescoes -- at the Shrine, and it is genius.

Saturday nite dinner was at St. Rocco.  They have those Catholic greeters who ask if you are Catholic, light candles, etc. (the boys were better looking than the girls, not that I noticed).  It is a pretty church, not St. Stan's pretty, but you get the drift.  I made sure to look at the ceiling art -- as I told one of them, someone went to the trouble of putting it there, and we should honor that at least.  Then it was off to dinner...funny, I always say I will eat inside, but then I bump into I know, the line is long, and I end up with a sausage sandwich and a bowl of pasta.  The sandwich is solid; the meatballs quite good, and the pasta is...fine?  I suspect it is better at Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  Next year I will actually eat inside and make a full compare.  Yeah, surre.

Sunday I went to the Hungarian Fest at German Central.  It was... an experience.  First, the parking lot is... tight, and there is one narrow road in and out (more on that later).  You also have to pay $12 admission.  I mean, if I liked the music and the accoutrements, it would be ok, but as I have the tin ear... anyways, you do have a wide range of interesting food options, though I went with chicken pap again.  It was quite good -- I think the noodles were store-bought, but they were small and cooked through.  The sauce was the orange/yellow one expects, and the torte I ordered was quite good.  But...you have to use tickets there (grrr) so I decided not to try something else.  I bumped into a former coworker there, so it was nice to catch up. But, as I told him, dinner and dessert was not $26, but $38 with admission -- and that is steep, no matter the economy.  Getting out was an adventure, as you had to go down the narrow road (cars were coming in, looking for parking, and there were pedestrians).  It worked, but barely.  I noted that people were going in, not finding parking, and then street-parking in the developments off York (lucky homeowners on those streets).  The grub was good but I do not think I would go back...

There are a few more fests -- St. John Cantius, St. Barbara's pasta dinner -- and I will try to hit those, but we are running low on fests and summer.  You will note I skipped St. Andrew (and a Max Miller sighting) due to tickets and a sense that they were a bit over their heads... I just hope we don't have that this year.